8 Days Silent Yoga Retreat Belgium

Overview

Yoga Rochefort Retreat with Jeff Foster

Join Jeff Foster for 8 days of talks, intimate dialogues, silence, and guided meditations in a healing and dogma-free field of safety and friendship. This 8 day retreat, including 5 days of silence, is a profound gift to yourself. This is an invitation to stop running away from life, turn towards your joy, your bliss, your pain and your sorrow. Embrace everything in loving arms, rest from the exhaustion of modern living, slow down, reconnect with your presence, sink into your breath and your body, and experience what is truly alive within you!

Château Frandeux has four levels. On the ground floor, there is the entrance and a spacious sitting-room with a monumental fireplace. From here, you will have a fantastic view of the great lake. Beside the sitting-room area, there is a large dining room and a second fireplace. From the dining room, there is an access to the terrace overlooking the valley of the Vachau. The kitchen is adjacent to the dining room.

From the sitting-room area, you will be guided through a wide wooden staircase to the first floor. You will enter a spacious and dignified castle hall. Adjacent to the castle hall, most of the stylish rooms are situated. On the second floor, there are the other rooms and a beautiful multi-functional activity room. Château Frandeux has many wellness facilities, including a sauna with lake view.

Rooms

Château Frandeux has 18 bedrooms, located on the first and second floor, with stunning views of the surrounding environment. On the second floor, there are also 8 additional rooms to rent.

All rooms are simply but stylish and comfortably furnished and all have a washing stand. 7 rooms have access to their own sanitary facilities (shower and toilet). The remaining rooms share 9 toilets and 10 showers. All beds are made on arrival and equipped with a set of towels.

Central on the second floor is a beautiful multi-functional room, suitable for group activities. Flip over charts, meditation cushions and mats, and a stereo system are available.

Kitchen and dining room

The Château Frandeux has a kitchen with a capacity to prepare meals for 100 people. In the dining room, you will find a large wooden handmade oval table with 25 chairs. There is the possibility to place extra tables and chairs, so that the capacity can be adjusted up to 75 seats. In the dining room, there is also a fireplace. From the dining room, you have access to a spacious stone terrace.

Sitting room

A monumental fireplace is located in the central of the sitting room. Around it, there are comfortable sofas, a piano, and a stereo system. You will also find a large wooden terrace, divided in three levels overlooking the lake.

Outdoor

Besides the two terraces, there is plenty of outdoor space surrounding the Château that can be used for numerous outdoor activities. There is a lawn in the opposite of the entrance where a fireplace is situated.

Around the lake, a sun terrace is situated where sun loungers are arranged during the summer. There are 2 rowboats moored on the lake, which are available for you. In addition, 25 acres of forest are at your disposal, where you can enjoy the undisturbed nature and silence.

Oven

Beside the boulangerie, there is an authentic indoor wood brick oven. Here, you can bake your own bread, pizzas, or cakes.

Parking lot

A large parking area is located after the main entrance with a capacity of about 40 cars. Château Frandeux tries to protect the natural environment as much as possible and keep the space around the Château free from cars.

Inventory

During the retreat, Jeff will hold about 16 group meetings of around 1½ hours each. In the meetings, there will be many opportunities to ask questions, explore your experience, engage in dialogue, or just sit in silence and meet your present experience, exactly as it is.

On this retreat, you are invited to commit to 5 days of collective silence between meetings. During the silent days, the group meetings will continue as usual.

Every morning before breakfast, you are encouraged to take part in a mindful yoga class, and in the afternoon, it’s recommended to join a silent meditation session.

On this retreat, you will learn to:

Accept yourselves exactly as you are, including Jeff Foster’s non-acceptance

Discover your true home in the present moment

Let go of the exhausting search for 'something more' and resting in natural awareness

Jeff Foster

For 5 consecutive years, Jeff has been on the list of the world’s 100 Most Spiritually Influential Living People, published by Watkins Mind Body Spirit Magazine (2015). He has published 5 well received books in over six languages. His latest book “Falling In Love With Where You Are" was published in 2013.

Jeff speaks in a very clear and simple way about the journey of awakening and self-realization. He presently holds meetings, retreats, and private one-to-one sessions around the world, gently but directly pointing people back to the deep acceptance inherent in the present moment. He points to a discovery of who you really are, beyond all thoughts and judgments about yourself, even in the midst of the stress and struggle of modern day living and intimate relationships.

His teaching style is direct and uncompromising, yet full of humanity, humour, and compassion. He believes that freedom is everybody’s birth right. He belongs to no tradition or lineage which makes his teaching accessible to all.

The domain of Château Frandeux is situated on the outskirts of the Belgian Ardennes, in the region of Les Famennes and belongs to the province of Namur in Wallonia. The area is also called "The Valley Country", a land with castles and a rich and varied heritage.

The village of Frandeux is formed by around 40 houses and is situated in the valley of the Vachau, about 6 kilometers from Rochefort.

Château Frandeux is located in a tranquil nature reserve. There is a small lake, an idyllic location in the forest with an overflow to the lake, where the Chateau is situated. The lake is excellent for swimming.

Adjoining the lake is 25 acres of private forest with a beautiful river valley where you can walk freely and enjoy what the seasons have to offer. In the area, there are lots of wildlife, including wild boars and deer. There are beautiful old beeches, oak trees, and two open spaces (fields) in the forest.

In the lower floor, overlooking the lake, there is a large sauna for 14 persons. You have free use of the sauna. From the sauna, you can use the lake as a plunge pool that is easily accessible via a comfortable staircase. Adjacent to the sauna, there are showers and a closet with large sauna towels. There is also an infrared cabin for 2 persons. On the second floor, there are 2 massage rooms and a solarium.

Driving directions from Antwerp

Just before Brussels, take exit E411 and continue towards Namur / Luxembourg.

Leave the E411 at exit 22, and follow the direction to Rochefort.

Then, take the first left turn (still following Rochefort sign).

After about 5 kilometers, after a sharp S-bend, turn left before a traffic sign where 4 villages are named on: Briquemont, Laloux, Frandeux, and Buissonville. The sign appears suddenly after a house with light blue colored window frames.

Follow this narrow secondary road for approximately 2 kilometers until Château Frandeux shows up on your left, just before the village of Frandeux.

Pass the entrance of the B&B ‘Ferme de Frandeux’ and follow some 50 meters up a narrow road.

On your left, you will see an iron gate where there is a sign that says ‘Château Frandeux’.

Driving directions from Liege

Follow the sign that says ‘Namur’.

At Namur, take the exit E411 direction to Luxembourg.

Follow the highway up to exit 22, Rochefort.

From here, the instruction is the same as above.

Arrival by bus

The nearest train station to Frandeux is called Jemelle. From this station, Bus 166C leaves on Friday at 17:40 in the direction of Rochefort Briquemont. It stops at around 18:15 almost in front of the Château Frandeux. This is the only bus available around the required time of arrival. For the general bus schedule, please visit www.infotec.be.

Arrival by train

If you travel by train from Brussels and Liège, the train stops every hour in Jemelle.

"I experienced the retreat as a treat… Jeff’s humble and valiant validation of a perceived ‘problem’ appears to encourage the beholder to disengage from its limiting label, and embrace it for what it is – a mere passing of physical emotions, along with visiting thoughts, craving loving attention, a re-l-ease in truth, an alignment with reality, the space we share and embody, tickling and tantalizing unwavering awareness as it were, enlightenment not needy of enlightenment. A breath of life indeed"

Jeff Foster website, edited

Review by A traveler

9 out of 10

"The retreat was the most deeply relaxing experience I’ve ever had. It was really beautiful to be able to sink completely into stillness and the mystery that all of this is. For the largest part of the retreat, the sensation of ‘heart opening’ was felt as a virtual constant, something not experienced so deeply and prolonged so far. As my first truly ‘silent’ retreat, it was wonderful"

Jeff Foster website, edited

Review by A traveler

9 out of 10

"Jeff stole my heart! In searching for the truth I’ve seen, read and heard many teachers before but Jeff was able to transmit it in such a direct and simple way that I finally could take it in. His explanation about ‘presence’ include everything and not a vague state to long for worked very well for me."

Jeff Foster, edited

Review by A traveler

9 out of 10

"I wanted to let you know that during my trip back from the retreat, something fell away, or shifted, I don’t know, but suddenly everything was crystal clear. No one was here doing the seeing. Nothing was happening (and yet everything was happening). Everything was still empty and at the same time everything was bursting with life."

Jeff Foster website, edited

Review by A traveler

9 out of 10

"I was touched by Jeff’s unconditional welcoming and his simplicity and honesty. I appreciated his ability not to provide answers, not to orient people towards his personal inclinations, but rather gently being totally present for everyone. I felt accepted as never before. This retreat was very different from many others I did in the past twenty years. It is not the kind where you feel ‘high’ just to get even lower when you go back to ordinary life, or not the kind where you understand everything, but actually fail to integrate anything. This may be the most valuable gift life ever gave me, and I am grateful for that."

Jeff Foster website, edited

Review by A traveler

9 out of 10

"The retreat is inexplicable. Something very profound changed forever. I do not need ‘me’ anymore. The presence that expressed itself through Jeff and the depth of being cannot be explained, but so deeply felt. That was like a recognition in the heart of something big that cannot be put into words. "